


Echo

by sentimental_boy



Series: Matt Murdock imagines [44]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: 2000 words of sheer panic, F/M, Pregnancy, with cameo appearances by logic and reason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 19:02:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6296071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentimental_boy/pseuds/sentimental_boy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Matt hears your baby's heartbeat for the first time</p>
            </blockquote>





	Echo

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been putting this off for months now. I've had 4 or 5 requests about this, but haven't done this because I don't want kids. But as Walt Disney said "It's not about what you want, it's about what the people want" so here it is.
> 
> If someone in my family gets ahold of my search history after this, they're going to flip a bitch haha.

It took Matt an embarrassing amount of time to figure it out. Stick would call him an idiot. Although, not putting this together would be the least of his complaints about Matt and his life choices right about now. But that’s beside the point. The first time he heard it, he furrowed his brows and asked if you were feeling alright.

To which you mirrored his expression. “Yeah love, I’m fine. What’s up? Are you okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah, your heart just sounds different all of a sudden. Like there’s this little echo.”

“Do you listen to my heartbeat all the time?” You twisted in his arms to look at him.

He shrugged. “Well, not every second; it takes too much concentration to do that and carry out a conversation.”

You hummed out a laugh at that. “Okay Matt.” You gave him a few loving pats on the thigh and snuggled into him again. “I’m fine.”

He was still a little worried, but let it go for the time being. Except the echo was getting louder, he didn’t have to listen so hard for it. About a week after he asked you about it, it hit him. You’re pregnant. There is a little raisin sized organism that will grow into a child- his child- inside you. He’s glad you haven’t come home yet because he can’t process it right now. He needs time to heave a proper panic attack so that one of you has your head on straight when he breaks the news. Oh God, when he tells you. This isn’t usually how this goes. Well fuck. He’s never brought this up before because you didn’t seem like you even like kids.

And he’s not ready to bring a child into this world, he’s a vigilante. His reasons don’t matter, it’s not a stable environment to raise a child in. What if an enemy found out who he was? Found his child and used them against him. Took them from him because he was causing this adversary grief. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself and definitely couldn’t expect you to live with him. What if you broke up with him and left him to raise the kid how his father raised him? And then he died or got outed as Daredevil and the kid ended up in the foster system like him. No, he couldn’t- wouldn’t- let that happen. What if it wasn’t up to him? What if you took the baby and raised it on your own, threatening to tell everyone the identity of Daredevil to win full custody?

 

Matt takes a deep breath. He needs to chill the fuck out. He knows you better than that, you'll freak out at first, just like him. The thing is coming out of your vagina- wow, that puts things in perspective. But the point is: you’re a reasonable person. You'll have a mature, adult, conversation with him about this once you’ve finished panicking.

He loves you, and as scary as it is, you can do it together. He wants to do this with you. And that’s where his rational train of thought ends, leaving him with cold blooded fear. What if you want to have an abortion? Is that something he can ask you not to do? His stance on the subject has always been that it’s up to women to decide, it’s their bodies, their lives, their health, their sanity. But, now it feels different. There’s an organism with a heartbeat, that he put inside you. It would grow into his child. He might not be ready, but they say you’re never ready. All he knows is that he would love that tiny human- his tiny human- with everything he has. And then that nice thing most humans are equipped with, called logic, comes back online. Nobody’s talking about abortion. Just like nobody’s talking about having the baby and not letting him into their life.

Then there’s the issue of religion. He’s already bending the rules with the whole sex outside of marriage thing. (It’s why he’s in this position now.) But having a child outside of wedlock? That’s where he’d like to draw the line. Obviously he’s not going to guilt you into marrying him if you said no, but he wants to do this right. But you’re not Catholic. [just ignore this part if you are. Sorry.] How will you want to raise them? Are you going to put up a fight if he wants to take them to church? He really needs to talk to you about this.

-0-

Matt has been acting strange for about a week now. He’s always been overprotective, because that’s who he is. But that’s not what this is. He’s been excessively doting, making sure you have anything and everything you want, and asking how you’re feeling like you’re recovering from an illness. You aren’t complaining about the massages and abundance of homemade meals, but it’s strange. One night he gets home from work later than usual, so you call him over after he puts his things down.

“Hello sweetheart.” He leans over the back of the couch to press his lips to your forehead.

“Matt, can we talk?”

His stomach sinks. It’s a natural reaction to that question, but he has reason to be worried this time. You must’ve picked up on it and taken a pregnancy test. How are you going to react when you tell him and he already knows? Will you be mad he hasn’t told you yet? “Of course we can talk. I’m just going to get changed and put some water on for tea. Do you want some?”

“Yeah, sure.”

He nods and brings it over when it's ready.

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I don't know. You've been strange lately.”

He furrows his brows and let's out a little laugh. “How so?”

“I don't know. I'm not complaining, but for about a week now, you've been treating me like a queen and I don't know why. I don't want to jump to conclusions when you've been so nice, but it feels like you're making up for something. Not to mention that you seem to care what happens to you when you go out as Daredevil all of a sudden.”

“Oh. Yeah, I've been meaning to talk to you, but I haven't known how to tell you.” He bites his lip. “Uh, here. Drink your tea, I have something for you.”

“Matt… what’s going on?”

He just grabs a little rectangle present wrapped in wrapping paper and hands it to you.

You eye him. “You look really nervous.”

“I am. Please just open it.”

“Okay.” You tear the paper open to reveal a book of baby names and you freeze. “Matt what the fuck? I swear to God, if you’re fucking with me I’ll use this book to beat the shit out of you.”

“I’m not, you’re pregnant.”

“Wha- how?”

“I heard the heartbeat last week.”

“Fuck. How did this happen? We’ve been so careful, I swear I didn’t miss a pill. Oh fuck fuck fuck.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” He pulls you into his arms. “It’s okay, I’m here. Just let it sink in, think about it. We’ll talk about it, and we’ll sort through it together.”

You shake your head. “I- I’m not ready for this. I’ve never wanted to be pregnant. This is scary as shit Matt.”

He tilts his head to the side. “Never? Why not?”

“I always said I wanted to adopt if I ever decided I wanted kids.”

“You didn’t want it you be yours? To be so in love with someone and let it bring you that much closer together?”

“No, because that’s bullshit. I love you Matt, I do. But a kid isn’t going to bring us closer together. Especially not an unplanned one. And fuck, having a person growing inside me? Pushing it out of my genitals? That’s not something I have a desire to ever experience. Did you know that more than half the time the vagina actually tears, I mean, splits, Matt. What if I have to have a C section? Shit, that might actually be preferable. I’d much rather help a kid who’s out there alone in the world than deal with all this shit.”

“But you’re already pregnant.” He murmurs.

“Yeah I got that. What about you? Do you want this? You aren’t freaking out?”

“Yes I want this. And I did freak out, at first. Which is why I waited to tell you. I figured one of us should be calm.”

You take a deep breath. “Alright, I need some time with this.”

He runs his hand over your shoulder. “Of course.” He tries to pull you in again, but you hold your hand out.

“No, I’m sorry, I need some time with this alone.”

“Oh.” He leans back. “Yeah, whatever you need. Just please, don’t push me away for too long?”

“I should warn you, it took me forever to get used to birth control because of the hormones. Before, I had a reign on my emotions and it was fine. But for the first three months taking the pills, I was a trainwreck. It's almost like I was a different person. And now I'm going to have hormone changes with this. You have to be ready for that. Because I'm feeling scared, and helpless, and alone right now. I'm sure you are too, but please remember what's happening to my body right now.”

He nods and aborts his motion to get closer. “Yeah. I get that.” He takes a breath. “But I don't feel alone. The thought of you leaving me crossed my mind; I don't want to have to raise this kid like my dad raised me, the decade I had with him. And I will never leave you alone. I'll give you your space, if that's what you want, but I'm here for you. Through all this.”

You nod. “I’m not leaving you either. I’m just- I don’t know. I’m mad. I’m mad the pills didn’t work, I’m terrified of carrying this thing and giving birth.”

“Okay, that’s understandable. I get that you’re scared and I’d trade places with you in a heartbeat if I could. I mean, think about how you get to bond with them as the mother.”

“I’m not there yet. You’ve had time to process this; allow me my panicking in peace. I mean, OB GYNs are hell and humiliating anyway, and now I’m going to have to be going in for regular appointments. And if I thought that was humiliating, you use the same muscles to push the baby out as you do when you take a shit. So if there’s anything in there, that’s coming out too. In a room full of doctors, and nurses, and you.”

“Well, no, that’s not going to be fun. But you’ll have a precious little human. It’ll be ours and you’ll be able to say, ‘I made this’.”

“Yeah.” You’re quiet for a while as your brain does laps trying to process this information. “And I’m going to have to diet, and- fuck- cut out alcohol. We should probably stop cursing.”

He chuckles. “I’ll be there for you, helping in whatever way I can along the way. I’ll diet and cut out alcohol with you. We can remind each other everytime we curse. After this conversation of course. That way we’re out of the habit by the time the baby’s here.”

You sigh and lean into him, letting his arm circle around your waist and rest on your belly. “Yeah. I guess there’s no point dwelling on what you can’t change.”

He runs his hand along your belly. “So how are we going to raise them?”

“Matt, honey, I’ve had maybe 30 minutes with this information. I haven’t gotten that far. If you want to do this now, you’re going to have to lead the conversation.”

“Okay. Well, I’m Catholic, you’re not. What are we going to do there?”

“I don’t want it forced on them. If you want to take them to church when they’re young, that’s fine. Just, when they get old enough to comprehend this stuff, it’s their decision. I just want them raised with good values. To be a kind, accepting, intelligent, strong person. I’m not worried about it.”

He nods. “Okay, that’s fair.”

“Are you hoping for a boy or a girl?” You move so you can look at him.

“Girl.” He smiles.

“Oh yeah?”

He nods. “Yeah. You know us Murdock boys-”

“The devil and all that. Yeah. Watch it be even worse if it's a girl. Shit, what are we going to do about that? It would be terrible to keep it from them.”

“Yeah. When we eventually told them or they found out, they’d feel betrayed.”

“Exactly. But at the same time, we’ll have to hide it. A kid’s not going to know not to say anything, and even if we made sure they didn’t, it’s a kid. They’re going to let it slip anyway.”

“A child shouldn’t have to bear that weight anyway.”

You look around. “We’re going to have to get a bigger place.”

He laughs and squeezes you, placing a peck on your forehead. “We’ll deal with that soon enough.”

-4 months later-

Matt’s proven to be a proud will-be-father since you started showing, and people started noticing. Also, protective. Which isn’t all that surprising, since he’s always been that way. It’s actually been a peeve of yours at times, but you’re fine with it now. The amount of people who think it’s okay to touch your belly is staggering. The first person who did it, you slapped their hand away out of a knee jerk reaction. You felt bad for a split second then remembered that it’s well within your rights to do so. Matt got a kick out of that incident, and then assumed the role of making sure it never happened again.

Matt was true to his word so far about helping you in whatever way he can and remembering that your hormone driven outbursts weren’t about him. He’s also been dieting with you, just like he said. You also have Karen and Foggy’s testimony that he hasn’t drank once since he found out you were pregnant.

You and Matt searched for two bedroom apartments for a while. Foggy asked if you were moving to the suburbs, but you both rejected the idea as soon as it came up. It’s your first night in the new place, and the first thing you unpack is the kettle and tea.

“Hey, I can make that for you, go sit down.” Matt tells you when he smells you opening the box.

“It’s fine, I got it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s nice to stand every once in awhile.”

“Okay.” He comes over to kiss your forehead. When he pulls back, he bites his lip and his hand fidgets in his pocket.

“You okay?” You run hand through his hair.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I was just thinking about how much I love you. You know I would do anything for you, and our baby, right?”

“Yes…”

He nods. “Good. I um, I was going to plan out a whole speech, but I’m just going to come right out and say it.” He sinks to his knees in front of you, one hand on your belly as he tilts his head up toward you. “Y/n, I love you. Will you marry me?” He pulls the ring out and sets it on your stomach.

You stare at him in shock for a moment. “Wait a minute. Come on, stand up.” You take his hands. “Why are you asking? Is it just the baby?”

“Well, that’s what pushed me, but I’ve actually given this some thought before we found out. I was going to bring it up to try and gauge if you were ready for that commitment before I proposed. Then this happened.” He smiles. “What’s more committed than having a baby?”

“You’re sure?”

“More so than any decision I’ve ever made.”

You pull him in for a kiss. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

He beams. “This calls for some celebratory grape juice!”

You laugh as you take the kettle off the stove. “How about just the tea?”

“Deal.”


End file.
